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Let Me Die in His Footsteps
In the spellbinding and suspenseful Let Me Die in His Footsteps, Edgar Award–winner Lori Roy wrests from a Southern town the secrets of two families touched by an evil that has passed between generations
On a dark Kentucky night in 1952 exactly halfway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays, Annie Holleran crosses into forbidden territory. Everyone knows Hollerans don’t go near Baines, not since Joseph Carl was buried two decades before, but, armed with a silver-handled flashlight, Annie runs through her family’s lavender fields toward the well on the Baines’ place. At the stroke of midnight, she gazes into the water in search of her future. Not finding what she had hoped for, she turns from the well and when the body she sees there in the moonlight is discovered come morning, Annie will have much to explain and a past to account for.
It was 1936, and there were seven Baine boys. That year, Annie’s aunt, Juna Crowley, with her black eyes and her long blond hair, came of age. Before Juna, Joseph Carl had been the best of all the Baine brothers. But then he looked into Juna’s eyes and they made him do things that cost innocent people their lives. Sheriff Irlene Fulkerson saw justice served—or did she?
As the lavender harvest approaches and she comes of age as Aunt Juna did in her own time, Annie’s dread mounts. Juna will come home now, to finish what she started. If Annie is to save herself, her family, and this small Kentucky town, she must prepare for Juna’s return, and the revelation of what really happened all those years ago.
On a dark Kentucky night in 1952 exactly halfway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays, Annie Holleran crosses into forbidden territory. Everyone knows Hollerans don’t go near Baines, not since Joseph Carl was buried two decades before, but, armed with a silver-handled flashlight, Annie runs through her family’s lavender fields toward the well on the Baines’ place. At the stroke of midnight, she gazes into the water in search of her future. Not finding what she had hoped for, she turns from the well and when the body she sees there in the moonlight is discovered come morning, Annie will have much to explain and a past to account for.
It was 1936, and there were seven Baine boys. That year, Annie’s aunt, Juna Crowley, with her black eyes and her long blond hair, came of age. Before Juna, Joseph Carl had been the best of all the Baine brothers. But then he looked into Juna’s eyes and they made him do things that cost innocent people their lives. Sheriff Irlene Fulkerson saw justice served—or did she?
As the lavender harvest approaches and she comes of age as Aunt Juna did in her own time, Annie’s dread mounts. Juna will come home now, to finish what she started. If Annie is to save herself, her family, and this small Kentucky town, she must prepare for Juna’s return, and the revelation of what really happened all those years ago.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 2, 2015
221 people are currently reading
4027 people want to read
About the author
Lori Roy
13 books302 followersLori Roy’s debut novel, Bent Road, was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author. Her work has been twice named a New York Times Notable Crime Book and has been included on various “best of” and summer reading lists. Until She Comes Home was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.
Let Me Die in His Footsteps was included among the top fiction of 2015 by Books-A-Million and named one of the best fifteen mystery novels of 2015 by Oline Cogdill. The novel also received the 2016 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, making Lori the first woman to receive an Edgar Award for both Best First Novel and Best Novel—and only the third person ever to have done so. Gone Too Long was named a People magazine Book of the Week, was named one of the Best Books of Summer 2019, and was excerpted by Oprah magazine.
Lori's latest, THE FINAL EPISODE, will hit stores June 25, 2025.
Lori lives with her family in west central Florida.
Let Me Die in His Footsteps was included among the top fiction of 2015 by Books-A-Million and named one of the best fifteen mystery novels of 2015 by Oline Cogdill. The novel also received the 2016 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, making Lori the first woman to receive an Edgar Award for both Best First Novel and Best Novel—and only the third person ever to have done so. Gone Too Long was named a People magazine Book of the Week, was named one of the Best Books of Summer 2019, and was excerpted by Oprah magazine.
Lori's latest, THE FINAL EPISODE, will hit stores June 25, 2025.
Lori lives with her family in west central Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews
May 30, 2015
In 1952 Kentucky the legends say that if a girl between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthday looks down into a well at midnight she will she her future husbands face. It's Annie Holleran's night to do that.
She sneaks onto the Baines' property though to stay away from the nosey eyes of the neighbors. She doesn't want anyone finding out what she sees.
What she and her sister find though is the body of the Baines matriarch.
The rules growing up were that if a Holleran saw a Baines that they would cross the street to get away from them. Bad blood between the families from a previous time.
Annie's Aunt Juna Crowley is the basis of these lies. Juna was supposedly blessed with the sight. With her black eyes and man gathering ways Juna was feared in the small town.
Juna and Sarah's younger brother and Juna herself were involved in a tale that ended up with one of the Baines brother's being hung and the rest of them having to leave town.
For Annie's whole life she has heard the tales of her haunted aunt Juna, then the whispers that she is really Juna's child started.
Juan Crowley is a legend. She's the one the girls sing about as their jump ropes slap hot concrete. Over and over the girls of Hayden County chant...
Eyes like coal, she'll lead you astray..How many Baines will die this day? And the ropes swing around and around until their fibers turn frayed and prickly to the touch.
Told between Annie's time and the time surrounding her birth this book is written pretty well. The growing of the lavender at her families farm almost had the scent drifting from the pages of the book.
This story focuses on lies and the damages that sisters can inflict on each other. The changing of so many lives because of the lies of a spiteful girl.
It's a book that just fell in the middle for me. The writing was good I just don't think I'll remember much of the book in a week. 3 stars.
She sneaks onto the Baines' property though to stay away from the nosey eyes of the neighbors. She doesn't want anyone finding out what she sees.
What she and her sister find though is the body of the Baines matriarch.
The rules growing up were that if a Holleran saw a Baines that they would cross the street to get away from them. Bad blood between the families from a previous time.
Annie's Aunt Juna Crowley is the basis of these lies. Juna was supposedly blessed with the sight. With her black eyes and man gathering ways Juna was feared in the small town.
Juna and Sarah's younger brother and Juna herself were involved in a tale that ended up with one of the Baines brother's being hung and the rest of them having to leave town.
For Annie's whole life she has heard the tales of her haunted aunt Juna, then the whispers that she is really Juna's child started.
Juan Crowley is a legend. She's the one the girls sing about as their jump ropes slap hot concrete. Over and over the girls of Hayden County chant...
Eyes like coal, she'll lead you astray..How many Baines will die this day? And the ropes swing around and around until their fibers turn frayed and prickly to the touch.
Told between Annie's time and the time surrounding her birth this book is written pretty well. The growing of the lavender at her families farm almost had the scent drifting from the pages of the book.
This story focuses on lies and the damages that sisters can inflict on each other. The changing of so many lives because of the lies of a spiteful girl.
It's a book that just fell in the middle for me. The writing was good I just don't think I'll remember much of the book in a week. 3 stars.
January 9, 2018
I am always drawn to these southern gothic toned novels. This has two different storylines, one in the near past and one in the present, two families, The Banes who have all boys and the Hallorans, who have all girls. Of course the novels draws from this, using wanting and having to illustrate good versus evil. Or is anyone purely both? Also some of the women in this town have a little extra knowing and the book starts with one of the superstitions and customs in which this town believes.
This author has quickly become one of the authors I wait for and grab when she writes her newest novel. She seems to get better and better, her plots a little tighter and her writing more assured. Now I wait again.
ARC from publisher
This author has quickly become one of the authors I wait for and grab when she writes her newest novel. She seems to get better and better, her plots a little tighter and her writing more assured. Now I wait again.
ARC from publisher
May 31, 2015
The cover of Let Me Die in His Footsteps is my favourite thing about this book. The cover depicting someone falling into a field of lavender is gorgeous. It's kind of like the writing. It has an eerie beautiful quality. But somehow I felt like the writing distanced me from the characters and the story. Set in two time periods -- the 1930s and 1950s -- the book tells the story of two generations of daughters growing up in rural Kentucky. Alternating between these two time periods, the story gradually unravels a mystery about what happened in the 1930s which ultimately reveals the connections between these girls. I expect that many people will enjoy this book -- it is beautifully written and the story has a melancholy dark quality that many readers will likely enjoy. But somehow it all felt a bit too carefully crafted to me, and I didn't feel pulled in by the story and didn't feel engaged by the characters or their emotions. This one is a question of taste, and I wouldn't be surprised or even disapproving if Roy's book gets a lot of praise when it comes out. 3 stars -- and not fewer -- because of the quality of the writing and because I can't point to a flaw in the book -- I just didn't particularly enjoy reading it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
June 24, 2015
“She wore her hair down this morning even though I told her it would be best if she’d bind it and cover it over. Being as it was a solemn day, I thought there would be something almost obscene about the beauty of her hair when it catches the sun. Falling down near about the center of her back, it glows. No other way to put it. Folks can’t help but stare, even though she’s not new to them, even though they don’t want to look. They’re afraid to look. They’re afraid of those black eyes. But she’s wrapped up in a kind of beauty most folks will only see once, maybe twice in their lives. They stare because they can’t resist”
Let Me Die In His Footsteps is the third novel by award-winning American author, Lori Roy. The story opens in Hayden County, Kentucky, where, even in 1952, folks put great consequence on signs, superstitions and rituals. Thus, at age fifteen and a half, at midnight on the eve of her ascension to womanhood, Annie Holleran climbs over the stone fence marking the edge of Holleran land, to gaze into the Baine’s well, where she is meant to see the reflection of her intended. She is not expecting to find a woman’s body among the tomato plants.
In 1936, Joseph Carl Baine was hanged, and there has been hatred between the Hollerans and the Baines ever since: angry old Mrs Baine sits on her porch with her shotgun, seeing off trespassers. Annie’s Aunt Juna is to blame: Juna has the “know how” (a form of precognition) and many folk believe her to be evil. Annie too, has the “know how”, as does her Grandma, who coaches her in the benign use of her power. But now, Mrs Baine is dead, and secrets, long-held, about the events of sixteen years ago begin to be revealed.
The story is split into two alternating strands: Sarah relates the events of 1936 while a third-person narrative from Annie’s perspective covers the incidents of 1952. Roy’s story is inspired by the last lawful public hanging in the USA. Her prose skilfully evokes the mood of Depression-era Kentucky and feel of the early fifties in the Upland South. Her characters are complex and multi-faceted: Annie is a spirited heroine, determined and a bit rebellious, while Juna’s true nature eventually becomes apparent. Sarah says “It’s what Juna does. Ever so slightly, she turns folks in the direction of her liking”. This is a page turner: it has a tension-filled, gripping plot with quite a few twists and a heart-stopping climax. A brilliant novel that will have readers seeking out earlier works by this talented author.
Let Me Die In His Footsteps is the third novel by award-winning American author, Lori Roy. The story opens in Hayden County, Kentucky, where, even in 1952, folks put great consequence on signs, superstitions and rituals. Thus, at age fifteen and a half, at midnight on the eve of her ascension to womanhood, Annie Holleran climbs over the stone fence marking the edge of Holleran land, to gaze into the Baine’s well, where she is meant to see the reflection of her intended. She is not expecting to find a woman’s body among the tomato plants.
In 1936, Joseph Carl Baine was hanged, and there has been hatred between the Hollerans and the Baines ever since: angry old Mrs Baine sits on her porch with her shotgun, seeing off trespassers. Annie’s Aunt Juna is to blame: Juna has the “know how” (a form of precognition) and many folk believe her to be evil. Annie too, has the “know how”, as does her Grandma, who coaches her in the benign use of her power. But now, Mrs Baine is dead, and secrets, long-held, about the events of sixteen years ago begin to be revealed.
The story is split into two alternating strands: Sarah relates the events of 1936 while a third-person narrative from Annie’s perspective covers the incidents of 1952. Roy’s story is inspired by the last lawful public hanging in the USA. Her prose skilfully evokes the mood of Depression-era Kentucky and feel of the early fifties in the Upland South. Her characters are complex and multi-faceted: Annie is a spirited heroine, determined and a bit rebellious, while Juna’s true nature eventually becomes apparent. Sarah says “It’s what Juna does. Ever so slightly, she turns folks in the direction of her liking”. This is a page turner: it has a tension-filled, gripping plot with quite a few twists and a heart-stopping climax. A brilliant novel that will have readers seeking out earlier works by this talented author.
August 1, 2021
It's not everybody's thing but personally, I love Southern Gothic. I love batshit characters and multigenerational feuds. Let Me Die in His Footsteps - a title with no relevance to anything in the story - is set in Kentucky with storylines in both 1952 and 1937.
Folks think women in the Crowley family have the gift of foresight. Folks also think at the stroke of midnight halfway between their 15th and 16th birthdays, a girl can look down into a well and see the face of the man she will marry. Annie Halloran, the latest in the Crowley line, sneaks over to the property of their sworn enemies, the Baines, to look into their well. Instead of seeing her future husband, she finds the body of old Mrs. Baines with a shotgun still in her hand. The investigation into her death stirs up simmering resentments, family tragedies and long-hidden secrets.
Hmm... how do I put this. If I had selected this book because it contains supernatural elements, I would have felt misled. That's not a spoiler; it's just setting expectations and preventing potential disappointment. What this book *does* have is a slow moving mystery, a solid sense of place and time, and one hell of an evil person.
Folks think women in the Crowley family have the gift of foresight. Folks also think at the stroke of midnight halfway between their 15th and 16th birthdays, a girl can look down into a well and see the face of the man she will marry. Annie Halloran, the latest in the Crowley line, sneaks over to the property of their sworn enemies, the Baines, to look into their well. Instead of seeing her future husband, she finds the body of old Mrs. Baines with a shotgun still in her hand. The investigation into her death stirs up simmering resentments, family tragedies and long-hidden secrets.
Hmm... how do I put this. If I had selected this book because it contains supernatural elements, I would have felt misled. That's not a spoiler; it's just setting expectations and preventing potential disappointment. What this book *does* have is a slow moving mystery, a solid sense of place and time, and one hell of an evil person.
September 29, 2015
Trust us. It's a ripper.
"This Depression-era story is a sad one, written in every shade of Gothic black. But its true colors emerge in the rich textures of the narrative, and in the music of that voice, as hypnotic as the scent coming off a field of lavender." New York Times
“Rich and evocative, Lori Roy's voice is a welcome addition to American fiction." Dennis Lehane
“A Faulkner-ian tale of sex and violence from the Kentucky hills.” Kirkus
'Faulkner-ian' doesn't quite roll off the tongue, I'll admit, but it sure looks good in a review.
"This Depression-era story is a sad one, written in every shade of Gothic black. But its true colors emerge in the rich textures of the narrative, and in the music of that voice, as hypnotic as the scent coming off a field of lavender." New York Times
“Rich and evocative, Lori Roy's voice is a welcome addition to American fiction." Dennis Lehane
“A Faulkner-ian tale of sex and violence from the Kentucky hills.” Kirkus
'Faulkner-ian' doesn't quite roll off the tongue, I'll admit, but it sure looks good in a review.
August 12, 2015
Got to the half way point and this is too superstition heavy and psychic ridiculous for me to desire to continue. I simply do not care to find out Annie, Caroline or any of their relatives' outcomes. Nor Juna's crime or secret either.
It's not poor writing. Just terribly overdrawn. And the Kentucky pokey lavender farm natural mode mood and description becomes, to me, immensely redundant and repeating. Others might be entertained or enthralled by the know-how.
I just wasn't. This book is not ringing any portion of my enjoyment bell. The hokey doesn't play for me. It might for you.
It's not poor writing. Just terribly overdrawn. And the Kentucky pokey lavender farm natural mode mood and description becomes, to me, immensely redundant and repeating. Others might be entertained or enthralled by the know-how.
I just wasn't. This book is not ringing any portion of my enjoyment bell. The hokey doesn't play for me. It might for you.
July 10, 2017
It's an atmospheric mystery with two timelines and two narrators, about lies in the past and consequences in the present. Nice, descriptive prose with some gothic vibes, very readeble and with interesting twist.
In both parallel stories, the narrator is a teenager, which I usually dislike, but both of the main protagonists are convincing and with strong narrative voice.
The most interesting part was (for me) the structure of the story - in both timelines, we follow almost the same cast and similar situation (but with a different outcome), and this requires a fairly detailed reading, especially when the story speaks about protagonists for whom are used different names... which, in the beginning, causes some confusion, but after all - this is a part of the reading experience where things are not brought to the reader on the plate, but you need to make an effort to clarify who / what / how by yourself.
In both parallel stories, the narrator is a teenager, which I usually dislike, but both of the main protagonists are convincing and with strong narrative voice.
The most interesting part was (for me) the structure of the story - in both timelines, we follow almost the same cast and similar situation (but with a different outcome), and this requires a fairly detailed reading, especially when the story speaks about protagonists for whom are used different names... which, in the beginning, causes some confusion, but after all - this is a part of the reading experience where things are not brought to the reader on the plate, but you need to make an effort to clarify who / what / how by yourself.
July 20, 2015
There are more holes in this tale than in Swiss cheese! The only reason I finished it was that a friend thought I would like it and got it for me.
The author flips back and forth between 1936 and 1952. Mostly the characters are the same, but have different functions. Or we have the same families 16 years later or the same names for different characters. In 1936 we have Mama and Daddy and Grandma. In 1952 we also have Mama and Daddy and Grandma, but they're different people. And then our protagonist, Annie, tells us pretty early in the book that "Mama" is not her mother, but that Aunt Juna is. And after another 50 or 60 pages we learn that "Daddy" is not her Daddy which means, of course, that Grandma is not her Grandmother. And that's the easy part!
Lots of people wind up dead or dying - some we know why and some we don't. People disappear. Some reappear and some don't. In one scene, one person dies but a different person (alive at the death of the first) is the one to get buried in the next paragraph! Actually that happens at the end when one person is [somewhat] threatening with a shotgun and then winds up dead - but that's never really clarified.
And then there's this whole business about who's supposed to marry whom because of whose face was seen in the well. A lot of the story was based on premonitions, none of which come to pass.
In the VERY end about 1/2 the convoluted story got somewhat straightened out. But at that point I can't imagine that any reader would care.
This reminded me of soap operas my own grandmother had me watch with her when I was a child. Basically endless nothingness.
The author flips back and forth between 1936 and 1952. Mostly the characters are the same, but have different functions. Or we have the same families 16 years later or the same names for different characters. In 1936 we have Mama and Daddy and Grandma. In 1952 we also have Mama and Daddy and Grandma, but they're different people. And then our protagonist, Annie, tells us pretty early in the book that "Mama" is not her mother, but that Aunt Juna is. And after another 50 or 60 pages we learn that "Daddy" is not her Daddy which means, of course, that Grandma is not her Grandmother. And that's the easy part!
Lots of people wind up dead or dying - some we know why and some we don't. People disappear. Some reappear and some don't. In one scene, one person dies but a different person (alive at the death of the first) is the one to get buried in the next paragraph! Actually that happens at the end when one person is [somewhat] threatening with a shotgun and then winds up dead - but that's never really clarified.
And then there's this whole business about who's supposed to marry whom because of whose face was seen in the well. A lot of the story was based on premonitions, none of which come to pass.
In the VERY end about 1/2 the convoluted story got somewhat straightened out. But at that point I can't imagine that any reader would care.
This reminded me of soap operas my own grandmother had me watch with her when I was a child. Basically endless nothingness.
December 20, 2016
Atmospheric but lightweight. Ultimately the prose is tiresome in its repetition. I get it, these are simple folk with their homespun superstitions, who don't know what to make of young women with blonde hair, black eyes, and a burgeoning sexuality. The last third of the book doesn't grapple with any of the darkness that Roy goes to the trouble of showing us in the first two-thirds. Catharsis is not earned, for the characters or this reader.
My biggest problem with this book is this: the author says that the case of Rainey Bethea (black man publicly hung in 1936 in Kentucky for the rape of a white woman) was the inspiration for the book. Spoiler alert: the man who is executed for the rape of a white woman has been changed to a white man. Spoiler alert: he's actually innocent. Spoiler alert: there are no black characters in the book at all.
For a book that doesn't shy away from the knotty and complicated ways gender, class, and violence figure in the lives of ordinary people, the absence of any acknowledgment of race feels deliberate and glaring.
I agree with Steph Cha's review in the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketco... "Roy was inspired by accounts of Rainey Bethea's hanging in Owensboro, Ky. Bethea was a black man. Roy doesn't pretend to tell his story, but for a novel that engages with the American South (and focuses on a hanging, of all things), "Let Me Die in His Footsteps" is almost obstinately white, the burdens of difference and marginalization visited on blond girls with black eyes. There are many decent excuses for this decision, but the result feels a bit incomplete."
My biggest problem with this book is this: the author says that the case of Rainey Bethea (black man publicly hung in 1936 in Kentucky for the rape of a white woman) was the inspiration for the book. Spoiler alert: the man who is executed for the rape of a white woman has been changed to a white man. Spoiler alert: he's actually innocent. Spoiler alert: there are no black characters in the book at all.
For a book that doesn't shy away from the knotty and complicated ways gender, class, and violence figure in the lives of ordinary people, the absence of any acknowledgment of race feels deliberate and glaring.
I agree with Steph Cha's review in the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketco... "Roy was inspired by accounts of Rainey Bethea's hanging in Owensboro, Ky. Bethea was a black man. Roy doesn't pretend to tell his story, but for a novel that engages with the American South (and focuses on a hanging, of all things), "Let Me Die in His Footsteps" is almost obstinately white, the burdens of difference and marginalization visited on blond girls with black eyes. There are many decent excuses for this decision, but the result feels a bit incomplete."
January 30, 2015
At the Bouchercon mystery convention this fall, I arrived to hear a panel early and saw, in an empty row, a galley of this novel. I became such an admirer of Roy after reading "Until She Comes Home." I looked around, saw no one, slipped the book in my bag and decided that if anyone came looking for it, I would deny everything! Having read this book, my admiration grows. Roy is an excellent storyteller, and she reaches into the depths with her characters - in this case, a family and townspeople over the course of two generations, whose lives are destroyed by the death of a young boy and the man who is hanged because of circumstances surrounding that death. Roy is not a joy-filled writer, and I find myself thinking about this book even more than I might have after having an email correspondence about it with a friend who I consider a soul mate when it comes to our reading tastes. She couldn't stomach Roy's books. My friend also wrote this about how Roy's writing disturbed her: "Also re disturbance of the literary kind, I find that women disturb me much more than men. When women become truth-tellers, they are laser beams." In that, my friend nailed both this book and "Until She Comes Home." But for me, that is why I feel moved by Roy's books. She's a tough writer. She doesn't spare her characters. And she writes without sympathy - but I feel that gives me more freedom to decide where I wanted to put my sympathies. It's hard to explain, but I feel that she trusts me as a reader, and I find that to be a rare quality in a writer these days.
June 1, 2015
Let Me Die is one of those novels where I'm hesitant to say too much out of fear of giving away its secrets - and trust me, this is a novel you'll want to discover all on your own - but I worry my reluctance to go into detail is going to make for a rather lackluster review when Let Me Die is actually one of the best books I've read this year and will absolutely be appearing again on my Top Reads of 2015 list! So please, please don't assume that my vagueness or tight-lipped review means I hated this one. It's actually the opposite - I loved this book to the point where I refuse to ruin it for anyone else!
For the full review and more, head over to The Pretty Good Gatsby!
For the full review and more, head over to The Pretty Good Gatsby!
July 18, 2017
Won from the First Reads giveaway.
I loved this book. It had great suspense and mystery. The language is lovely and I will be thinking about the characters for a long time to come. I am usually able to predict outcomes, but I didn't with this one. I would like to read more of the authors work.
The cover is really pretty even if it's kind of incorrect. She's laying in wheat or something that was photo-shopped to look like lavender and her nightgown is totally not 50's-ish. Also, I don't think Annie would lay in the lavender because she's always complaining about the scent. But that's okay, it's still a nicely designed and eye-catching cover.
I loved this book. It had great suspense and mystery. The language is lovely and I will be thinking about the characters for a long time to come. I am usually able to predict outcomes, but I didn't with this one. I would like to read more of the authors work.
The cover is really pretty even if it's kind of incorrect. She's laying in wheat or something that was photo-shopped to look like lavender and her nightgown is totally not 50's-ish. Also, I don't think Annie would lay in the lavender because she's always complaining about the scent. But that's okay, it's still a nicely designed and eye-catching cover.
July 16, 2019
Well Lori, you’re not in Kansas anymore!! I can’t believe she is not from Kentucky, the story had the feel of being written by a native who had experienced knowing the characters she depicted in this novel
Even though I had trouble keeping the 30’s and 50’s straight I really liked the book and her writing style. BUT, with all those Mamas and Daddy’s it was
hard to remember who was who over a 20 year span.
Looking forward to more by this author.
Even though I had trouble keeping the 30’s and 50’s straight I really liked the book and her writing style. BUT, with all those Mamas and Daddy’s it was
hard to remember who was who over a 20 year span.
Looking forward to more by this author.
September 26, 2019
BORING...Only made it through a half of this novel! Nothing really drew me into the story...nothing new or exciting!
May 20, 2015
This was a great thriller/historical fiction. Let Me Die in His Footsteps has many layers. The two stories had me dieing to find the intersections. When I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about it. Now that I am done, I can’t shake the complexity of the families.
Annie and Caroline are growing up in the 1950’s and Juna and Sarah are growing up in 1930’s. In a small town in Kentucky, they both represent the family Holleran. Half way between ages of 15 and 16 things happen to all the girls that change everything for them and the town they live in. The Baines are the family next door. There were seven sons in Juna’s time, but twenty years later, in Annie’s time, there is only the mother. When she falls over dead, the mystery of what kept these two families apart begins to unravel for Annie. The truth about Juna and Sarah come out and Annie’s life will never be the same.
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked this book up. Lori Roy kept me on the edge of my seat. I was reading as fast as I could. I couldn’t get to the secrets fast enough. We aren’t exactly given cliffhangers, just the slow build up of something. Tragedy stains both of these stories. The writing is in both Sarah’s and Annie’s POV. We get a glimpse into the hopes and desires of two young women. These two girls could not be more different, but somehow they are family.
In the midst of all of this someone dies. The last man in America who dies by hanging was executed in Kentucky. That part is real, but the rest of the story is fiction. The story is not written in upbeat prose. Despite the deaths and the darkness lurking within the family, there was hope just below the surface. There were quite a few surprises in this book. It was no surprise I didn’t see it coming because the author doesn’t give us a good picture of the facts until the end. In the end, I was left feeling good about the ending. I would recommend this book for thriller/historical fiction fans. Since the reader is left anticipating the next thing throughout most of the story, I think this is more of an acquired taste. It really worked for me, though. Like I said the story really stuck with me, and that is something I can’t say about everything I read. I would read more from this author, for sure.
Annie and Caroline are growing up in the 1950’s and Juna and Sarah are growing up in 1930’s. In a small town in Kentucky, they both represent the family Holleran. Half way between ages of 15 and 16 things happen to all the girls that change everything for them and the town they live in. The Baines are the family next door. There were seven sons in Juna’s time, but twenty years later, in Annie’s time, there is only the mother. When she falls over dead, the mystery of what kept these two families apart begins to unravel for Annie. The truth about Juna and Sarah come out and Annie’s life will never be the same.
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked this book up. Lori Roy kept me on the edge of my seat. I was reading as fast as I could. I couldn’t get to the secrets fast enough. We aren’t exactly given cliffhangers, just the slow build up of something. Tragedy stains both of these stories. The writing is in both Sarah’s and Annie’s POV. We get a glimpse into the hopes and desires of two young women. These two girls could not be more different, but somehow they are family.
In the midst of all of this someone dies. The last man in America who dies by hanging was executed in Kentucky. That part is real, but the rest of the story is fiction. The story is not written in upbeat prose. Despite the deaths and the darkness lurking within the family, there was hope just below the surface. There were quite a few surprises in this book. It was no surprise I didn’t see it coming because the author doesn’t give us a good picture of the facts until the end. In the end, I was left feeling good about the ending. I would recommend this book for thriller/historical fiction fans. Since the reader is left anticipating the next thing throughout most of the story, I think this is more of an acquired taste. It really worked for me, though. Like I said the story really stuck with me, and that is something I can’t say about everything I read. I would read more from this author, for sure.
July 25, 2016
This book won the Edgar Award for 2016. Since the prize for mystery novels was created in 1954, I have read eight of the early Edgar winners as part of My Big Fat Reading Project. Four of the first eight winners were written by females and their books were great reads. (See list below.)
I have not read any recent winners and only one in the last decade was written by a woman. The prize has always been given to a mix of well known authors and ones you don't hear much about otherwise. On a whim, I decided to read this year's winner.
It was a whim that paid off. Set in 1950s Kentucky, the story combines coming-of-age, southern themes, family feuds, and love stories with a mystery. Annie has been raised by her aunt since infancy. Along the way she and the reader learn that her birth mother was a wild woman who disappeared right after Annie was born. She has no idea who her father was but it is widely known that a man was hanged in connection with the loss of her real mother's young brother. In fact, it was the last public hanging in the United States.
Annie has that Southern mixed blessing, sometimes called "the sight" but here it is called "the know how." Are the things she "knows" are going to happen really true or just teenage wishful thinking? A great way to put red herrings into the tale.
Because of the 1950s time period (I loved reading about Southern life, tobacco farming, etc in those times) and the back story set in the 1930s, it is almost historical fiction. Annie is a fascinating character. She is actually an orphan, she is smart and brave, and you just want her to be happy. The only thing I never figured out was the meaning of the title. I would be happy to hear thoughts on that from anyone who has read the book.
Lori Roy won an Edgar for Best First Novel a few years ago. She has two earlier novels I'd like to check out. Recommended for Southern fiction fans.
Edgar Winners written by women in the first decade of the prize:
Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay
Beast in View by Margaret Millar
A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong
The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
June 12, 2015
The book goes back and forth from Sarah and Juna’s story in 1936 and Annie’s story in 1952. This is a family full of secrets and though separated by many years they secrets are still relevant and unnerving as we find out what the truth really is.
Like Lori Roy’s Bent Road that I reviewed back in 2012 this is a book about family relationships and struggles. I am walking a fine line here not wanting to give too much away. Back in the 30’s the family’s crop was tobacco, in the 50’s it is lavender. (Isn’t the cover beautiful.) Life has never been easy for this family, some people say they are cursed. The Baines and the Cowley’s have a history and when Annie ventures on Baine land the past comes back and eerie things are brought to light.
Roy has written quite a story and creating some flawed and fascinating characters. A few characters in both time periods are believed to have the “know-how” or the ability to know something is about to happen. This is a very dark read and full of tragedy. The author tells the story and she doesn’t pull any punches. Her style is very descriptive. There are a few twists and I started to see where the story could end up but I was only partly right.
A would call this book beautifully haunting, a bit chilling. It has stayed with me since I finished it.
Like Lori Roy’s Bent Road that I reviewed back in 2012 this is a book about family relationships and struggles. I am walking a fine line here not wanting to give too much away. Back in the 30’s the family’s crop was tobacco, in the 50’s it is lavender. (Isn’t the cover beautiful.) Life has never been easy for this family, some people say they are cursed. The Baines and the Cowley’s have a history and when Annie ventures on Baine land the past comes back and eerie things are brought to light.
Roy has written quite a story and creating some flawed and fascinating characters. A few characters in both time periods are believed to have the “know-how” or the ability to know something is about to happen. This is a very dark read and full of tragedy. The author tells the story and she doesn’t pull any punches. Her style is very descriptive. There are a few twists and I started to see where the story could end up but I was only partly right.
A would call this book beautifully haunting, a bit chilling. It has stayed with me since I finished it.
August 1, 2016
A book club choice for our Mystery, Suspense, Thriller book club.
in the description of this book, it says It's "spellbinding and suspenseful" . for me it was neither of those..
it was confusing, lacked interesting characters, and just plain boring.
the hint at black eyes making people do things was an interesting idea, but the author didn't use this idea to its full potential.
it was easy enough for me to figure out who Annie's father really was, and that Juna was probably dead.
the authors title of "Let me die in his footsteps" copying most of a Bob Dillon song title was a good idea, but who exactly is he? the author suggests it to be a character in her novel with courage to live without fear, and seek a better life. I still don't know which character she is speaking of ! Lol
hopefully, someone in my book club can tell me.
.
in the description of this book, it says It's "spellbinding and suspenseful" . for me it was neither of those..
it was confusing, lacked interesting characters, and just plain boring.
the hint at black eyes making people do things was an interesting idea, but the author didn't use this idea to its full potential.
it was easy enough for me to figure out who Annie's father really was, and that Juna was probably dead.
the authors title of "Let me die in his footsteps" copying most of a Bob Dillon song title was a good idea, but who exactly is he? the author suggests it to be a character in her novel with courage to live without fear, and seek a better life. I still don't know which character she is speaking of ! Lol
hopefully, someone in my book club can tell me.
.
August 29, 2018
This book was good, and it kept my attention. It was slow to start, and the switching between timelines got annoying, but that was because once you get further into the book, every single chapter ends on a cliffhanger. The ending was slightly predictable, but the characters were enjoyable and felt real.
August 7, 2016
This was definitely an interesting story and I found myself hooked into it from the very first page.
Roy’s voice is incredible. I love what she does with accents to a level of envy. It’s not stream-of-consciousness or any kind of broken English or anything. It’s all in the play of sentence structure. A subtle use of a word that makes a sentence grammatically incorrect but so incredibly right for the character who’s talking or thinking. She doesn’t really use apostrophes to show words that are droppin’ letters or nothin’. It’s so intelligent and so sly and so incredibly perfect that the story just wove its words around my head and wouldn’t let me go until the end. Absolutely loved her voice.
The story was dark but not as dark as I was expecting it to be. I’m going to come back around to the world subtle again. I feel like I’m going to use that one a lot. But there’s just no other way to describe it. LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS has a slow-building darkness that creeps up on you. It flows out from under the space of a door to fill the room up, except you don’t notice it until it’s almost around your neck. Everything starts in rumors and gossip and people being afraid for no good reason and before you know it you’re wondering if there’s some supernatural element going on and what the hell just happened SOMEONE’S DEAD.
Juna is one hell of a character that slowly builds into something that could be evil but could be a product of her environment. Where does one end and the other begin? Does Juna really have any supernatural powers or just the power of fear she’s been given all her life because of superstitious people? You have no idea and you watch as it completely runs out of control and absolutely ruins people in the process.
LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS is such an idyllic setting . . . with creatures creeping in the shadows. In the dark little corners of the Holleran house and out in the rows of lavender and maybe by the shed near the Baine place. I love how rumors and urban legends have effectively molded what this little town is and how they fall into this self-fulfilling prophecy that has an effect on people decades down the road.
The book is a sleeper that’ll jump out at you when you least expect it and stay with you long after you’ve turned out the light. It’s not scary in a traditional sense, but it’s phenomenal at showing just what people can do to themselves and others with only words. It’s a powerfully dark story that’ll stay in the back of your mind long after you’ve read it. Roy is a fantastic storyteller and LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS makes me want to read everything else she’s written. Her voice is just mesmerizing.
5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Roy’s voice is incredible. I love what she does with accents to a level of envy. It’s not stream-of-consciousness or any kind of broken English or anything. It’s all in the play of sentence structure. A subtle use of a word that makes a sentence grammatically incorrect but so incredibly right for the character who’s talking or thinking. She doesn’t really use apostrophes to show words that are droppin’ letters or nothin’. It’s so intelligent and so sly and so incredibly perfect that the story just wove its words around my head and wouldn’t let me go until the end. Absolutely loved her voice.
The story was dark but not as dark as I was expecting it to be. I’m going to come back around to the world subtle again. I feel like I’m going to use that one a lot. But there’s just no other way to describe it. LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS has a slow-building darkness that creeps up on you. It flows out from under the space of a door to fill the room up, except you don’t notice it until it’s almost around your neck. Everything starts in rumors and gossip and people being afraid for no good reason and before you know it you’re wondering if there’s some supernatural element going on and what the hell just happened SOMEONE’S DEAD.
Juna is one hell of a character that slowly builds into something that could be evil but could be a product of her environment. Where does one end and the other begin? Does Juna really have any supernatural powers or just the power of fear she’s been given all her life because of superstitious people? You have no idea and you watch as it completely runs out of control and absolutely ruins people in the process.
LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS is such an idyllic setting . . . with creatures creeping in the shadows. In the dark little corners of the Holleran house and out in the rows of lavender and maybe by the shed near the Baine place. I love how rumors and urban legends have effectively molded what this little town is and how they fall into this self-fulfilling prophecy that has an effect on people decades down the road.
The book is a sleeper that’ll jump out at you when you least expect it and stay with you long after you’ve turned out the light. It’s not scary in a traditional sense, but it’s phenomenal at showing just what people can do to themselves and others with only words. It’s a powerfully dark story that’ll stay in the back of your mind long after you’ve read it. Roy is a fantastic storyteller and LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS makes me want to read everything else she’s written. Her voice is just mesmerizing.
5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 5, 2015
The review was first posted on For The Love of Fictional Worlds as part of the blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours.
Actual Rating 3.5 Star
I love historical fiction. I honestly love reading different authors perceptions about how they view the past and the instances of that constitute past!
This is the first Lori Roy novel that I have read and I have to say I am impressed.
The story is set in a small town of Kentucky - a town that hides animosities between two families, a girl who has "the sight" and a secret that isn't a secret at all.
I will not go beyond this, because let's face it - you'll hate me for the spoilers :P
This story has an interesting concept - told in dual POV of both the protagonist Anne and her Aunt Juna , you get to read about both the 1950's and the 1930's. Now I am from India, what I have learnt about America has been from books or movies. But what I have learnt from This book is quote ingenious to say the least!
The story though does go a little slow - but that is to be expected of a historical book but I still would have preferred a faster read. Maybe it was my cranky mood (or reading slump, as you muggles would refer to it as!) but it did honestly affect my enjoyment of the book - hence the little low rating!
The writing though is brilliant! Really! Lori's brilliant at explaining the characters, the circumstance but perhaps the most brilliant thing she did is the way she ended the book - I never saw that coming and that by far was the best thing about the ever!
I will definitely read more of Lori's book - just not when I am in a cranky mood :D
Actual Rating 3.5 Star
I love historical fiction. I honestly love reading different authors perceptions about how they view the past and the instances of that constitute past!
This is the first Lori Roy novel that I have read and I have to say I am impressed.
The story is set in a small town of Kentucky - a town that hides animosities between two families, a girl who has "the sight" and a secret that isn't a secret at all.
I will not go beyond this, because let's face it - you'll hate me for the spoilers :P
This story has an interesting concept - told in dual POV of both the protagonist Anne and her Aunt Juna , you get to read about both the 1950's and the 1930's. Now I am from India, what I have learnt about America has been from books or movies. But what I have learnt from This book is quote ingenious to say the least!
The story though does go a little slow - but that is to be expected of a historical book but I still would have preferred a faster read. Maybe it was my cranky mood (or reading slump, as you muggles would refer to it as!) but it did honestly affect my enjoyment of the book - hence the little low rating!
The writing though is brilliant! Really! Lori's brilliant at explaining the characters, the circumstance but perhaps the most brilliant thing she did is the way she ended the book - I never saw that coming and that by far was the best thing about the ever!
I will definitely read more of Lori's book - just not when I am in a cranky mood :D
July 21, 2015
This was an eerie little book, a bit reminiscent of Sharyn McCrumb. It was a moody, rather dark mystery set in the Kentucky hills and filled with local legend, feuding families, mysterious deaths and disappearances, and LOTS of secrets. It was a sad little story for many of the characters, and tragic for several. My main problem with the story was my inability to really like anybody in it. No one was especially charismatic. Even the main characters Sarah and Annie, a mother and daughter who were strong females, were caught up in jealousies and deceptions and petty cruelties that made it hard to really root for them. Both were haunted by murky pasts and buried family secrets. When all the questions were finally answered, it was still unsatisfying. Too many of the people acted selfishly or unkindly or even cruelly. Boy, maybe 3 stars was too generous. I did like the story though, in spite of my criticisms. But I would have liked to care more about the people in it.
September 7, 2015
I fell in love with the cover immediately upon hearing about the book and was very excited to get a chance to read it thanks to an ARC sent via YPG. Some fascinating plot points and genuinely surprising twists in the end, and while I can't point to anything I strongly (or even mildly) disliked, this one left me feeling fairly...neutral, I suppose is a decent word. Not quite as full of dark magic as I was hoping/expecting. And though the writing is strong, it felt a bit tedious at times, and I feel like a far amount of questions I had were still left unanswered on the last page, or premonitions that seemed to play fairly heavily into the plot turned out not to mean much at all.
December 15, 2014
4.5 stars. My favorite of Roy's three books. Great character development and an intriguing plot. I enjoyed reading the story from the different perspectives - both past and present. Excellent read - highly recommend.
ARC from publisher.
ARC from publisher.
June 16, 2017
I really liked the book; however, I don't like to read books that take the Lord's name in vain. If those had been left out, my rating would be 5 stars
February 24, 2025
I am not sure what to make of this novel, although I now find it hard to believe this won an Edgar award. For the better part of the novel I kept thinking 'I really don't want to read any more' but then, better than halfway through, I felt so invested in the story I felt compelled to finish.
It seemed the book took far too long to get to the actual crime at the heart of its mystery, and the setting was both depressed and depressing, as were virtually all the characters. And be forewarned, you might star getting a bit confused since the story alternates between two successive generations of a family, so characters appear in both timeframes, (older later, of course), so it is necessary to keep a mental timeline of when things related in the story impacted each character. If there weren't so many other books on my WTR I might consider a re-read, but I don't see that happening.
It seemed the book took far too long to get to the actual crime at the heart of its mystery, and the setting was both depressed and depressing, as were virtually all the characters. And be forewarned, you might star getting a bit confused since the story alternates between two successive generations of a family, so characters appear in both timeframes, (older later, of course), so it is necessary to keep a mental timeline of when things related in the story impacted each character. If there weren't so many other books on my WTR I might consider a re-read, but I don't see that happening.
October 12, 2017
Really atmospheric and kept me guessing. Perfect fall read.
April 4, 2024
DNF at 40%. I don’t fully get this book, and don’t care enough to find out.
August 14, 2023
It was a story about families, superstition and life in rural Kentucky farming community. Enjoyed the historic perspective and how the secrets were never far from the surface.
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